War Film Collections
Get the feel of war time patriotism.
This post is a bit different. If all goes according to plan, I’m in Oxford, England with Dr. Sarah Louise Miller rambling around the university talking about World War 2 research—and in particular the contributions of women to the war.
So, ahead of time, I’ve collected films that were made during the war. In today’s aesthetic, they may feel a bit melodramatic, but they reflect the World War 2 mood.
The Academy of Motion Pictures Museum has one of the largest collections of war newsreels and films. They are available online through YouTube. (You may have to click the arrow twice and slowly and twice to get it to run.)
The link below leads you to the listing of 12 videos to watch, with a photo and logline for your review:
The link is: Academy War Films Collection
The Atlantic Festival 2022 offered Pearl Harbor footage. Again, the journalistic style is from the 1940s and the attention span of audiences was longer.
The link is: Atlantic Festival 2022
The Museum of Flight has some rarely seen footage of December 7, 1941, including the impact on civilians. There is NO AUDIO, but the footage is worth watching. The ethnic slurs, and derogatory racial remarks reflect the sentiment of the day.
The link is: Museum of Flight
This is the National Park’s video of December 7, 1941. It is narrated by two young boys and is current. It is a good video for middle grade. I like it because it’s what this Substack is about—civilian impact.
The link is: Pacific Historic Parks
There’s no fee in subscribing and I never share your personal information.
This is not a war film, it is life in Waikiki before the war—the romance of the islands that GIs expected when they arrived. I found it at KailuaKid YouTube’s account. It has the following source information: We recently discovered several vintage 16mm films depicting old Hawaii. The films were originally taken by an unknown photographer for his own personal enjoyment while on his way from San Jose to AustraliaWaikiki 1940 in 1940. We purchased them at a garage sale at the house at an old local orchardist. The films were converted to digital by volunteers from the California Pioneers of Santa Clara County who used their telecine processor to preserve historic images at no charge.
The last link I’m posting is to the Library of Congress National Screening Room. Here’s a warning: I’m a librarian, and the LOC website is a tangle of spaghetti. I’ll get you to World War 2 films with this link; you may not get it the first time. It isn’t user friendly, but neither is the National Archives.
The Library of Congress summary of this film is: “Dramatic portrayal of the results of carelessness in war production--the death of an American soldier in the Southwest Pacific, of American airmen in the North Atlantic"--War films for war use, Office of War Information, Bureau of Motion Pictures, June 1943, accessed via Archive.org, August 12, 2020, p. 3.
The LOC films are mostly focused on the US Homefront and the European theater, but you can really go down the rabbit hole watching some of the “quirky” videos.
This is a print screen of the Archives. You can easily spend hours going down this rabbit hole.
Thanks for reading this newsletter. If you’d like to support this research, check out my books at Amazon. There may be something you find interesting. WHO MURDERED JANE STANFORD? is “An answer imagined.”
It is inspiring in these times of doubt.